


Anchor

by astrocrown



Category: Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Nightmares, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-21
Updated: 2018-10-21
Packaged: 2019-08-05 04:42:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16361027
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astrocrown/pseuds/astrocrown
Summary: Venom has never seen Eddie have a nightmare before and struggles to comfort him.





	Anchor

**Author's Note:**

> I debated on what pronouns to use for Venom but I decided I like gender-neutral best. I'm only loosely familiar with them in the comics (so far) but I had to write something for them because the movie has ruined my life. Enjoy!

While Eddie slept, Venom stayed alert. 

Venom did this almost every night. There were times they rested when it was needed, when they were hurt and had to heal. Mostly, they remained awake while Eddie resided in slumber, constantly on guard, ever vigilant in watching their host. 

Sometimes Venom would manifest, a serpent-like structure extending from Eddie’s chest, just to watch their host from the outside while he slept. Eddie was never more peaceful than he was in this state. There was nothing pulling his shoulders down, no tension in his shut eyes. The weight he carried day to day was temporarily pushed away. 

There was a certain beauty in it. Venom recognized it as they watched him, noting how his facial features somehow seemed softer than normal. They could sense the calm in him, a feeling that should remain even though Eddie would enter REM sleep soon. Venom has seen it countless times by now, across the weeks they’d been together. 

Eddie was peaceful, and even beautiful, as he slept. 

The peace didn’t last.

Venom was familiar with Eddie’s stages of sleep. This wasn’t the first time they’d seen his pulse rise, breathing increase, the rapid eye movements, and the spike in brain activity. At first, Venom wasn’t concerned. However, their vigilance over Eddie included the internal factors as well as the external, so they sensed the distress the moment Eddie began to feel it. Synapses firing distress signals in Eddie’s brain were blaring like alarms in Venom, and they’d never seen anything from Eddie like it before. At least not while he was asleep. 

Venom melded back into his skin, trying to look inside Eddie’s mind. Sometimes, they’d noticed that images would pass through Eddie’s mind while he slept. Glimpses of his childhood, his life with Anne, various stories he’d worked on for the Brock Report, or something entirely unreal. They weren’t very frequent and usually didn’t last long, sparing Eddie from any potential distress. This seemed to be something along those lines, but much worse, and it seemed to hang on in Eddie’s mind, as though it were determined to cause him pain. 

While Eddie was making soft, pained noises in his sleep, his mind was plaguing him with flashing images that Venom recognized. The rocket, the explosion, the fire, the water. Their separation. In Eddie’s mind, it was all happening in slow motion, despite that it had happened so very quickly in reality. Too quickly. 

It struck Venom that of all bad dreams he could be having, it was about their separation. Not when Riot stabbed him, not the chase in the streets on Eddie’s motorcycle, or not even when his life fell apart before he found Venom. It was about when Venom let him go, in the hope that they could save him, even at the possible expense of their own life. 

Venom had fully expected to die then. There was so much fire, so much burning, so much pain. And yet, afterwards, there was just enough of them left when the debris started falling into the water, that Eddie was able to find them and protect them until they healed. Against all possible odds. 

Eddie tossed in his sleep and no matter how much Venom tried to calm him from within, the anguish persisted. Eddie was reliving losing Venom over and over again, likely believing it to be real, and the deep sense of pain in him resonated in the symbiote. 

Thick tendrils emerged from Eddie’s forearms, constructing into hands that were purposefully made to fit with Eddie’s own just right. Venom held both of Eddie’s hands and gently squeezed, hoping the pressure and their presence would ease his mind. Their mind.

Eddie squeezed back even though he was still asleep. Venom kept a strong hold on him, refusing to let up until they knew Eddie felt safe again, silently reminding him that they were here and the two of them were together. Nothing would separate them again. 

They sent whispers into Eddie’s mind, silent but resolute. 

_Still here, Eddie._

_We are together._

_I’m never leaving you._

A wave of relief passed through Venom, letting them know that Eddie was feeling okay again. Venom felt relief of their own, thankful that their beloved host was no longer in such pain again. Physical pain was much easier to fix. Venom could stitch him back up with relative ease. It was the mental anguish they still grappled to help him with, but the hand holding seemed to help.

They were glad.

They were still holding Eddie’s hands tight when Eddie woke up. Venom could sense his momentary confusion as his grogginess left his mind in a fog, leaving him struggling to remember what was real. 

**We're not in danger. We're in the apartment.**

Eddie eased a bit as he realized he was, in fact, in his bed and not falling from Venom and the explosion. But before he could process that Venom knew he’d been having a bad dream, he realized they were holding hands and his breath caught in his throat. But he didn’t let go, and neither did Venom. 

**Your hands are sensitive to touch. It was the best way to remind you we are still here.**

A different, softer feeling rose from Eddie’s chest. Venom sensed it. They didn’t have a name for it though, as it was still new for them. In all their years existing across time and space, it was a particular feeling they’d never felt until they met Eddie. Sometimes it was hard to tell if the feeling started from Eddie or from Venom, but Venom knew it didn’t matter. They were one. 

“You saw it,” Eddie realized. 

**I did. I didn't know your mind could hurt you this way.**

Eddie laughed bitterly. “Human brains can do much worse than that, trust me.” 

**Don't like it.**

“Neither do we, buddy,” Eddie said somewhat sadly. He sighed heavily and let Venom go, rubbing his eyes. “Jesus, what time is it?”

**It's still late. We still need to rest.**

“Don’t feel much like sleeping after that.”

Venom spread out, starting from Eddie’s stomach stretching out over his bare torso and back into something akin to a blanket, clinging onto him like a tight shirt. Their form of an embrace.

 **This helps** , Venom said. It wasn’t a question. 

Eddie smiled softly. “Alright, you win.”

**Ha.**

Eddie chuckled, shifting to his side and shutting his eyes as Venom stayed wrapped around him. “Just...V?”

**Yes?**

Eddie didn’t say it out loud, but Venom picked it up. _Don’t let me go._

They never would.

**Author's Note:**

> Might do more for them in the future but I'm not sure yet. Hope you liked it!
> 
> My twitter: [halhighball](https://twitter.com/halhighball) | My tumblr: [msgrayson](http://msgrayson.tumblr.com/)


End file.
